A baby who cannot yet speak may still “bend the truth.” That idea feels strange at first. But new research, including the Early Deception Survey (EDS) published in the journal Cognitive Development, shows something important: the roots of lying begin far earlier than most parents expect.By 10 months, about 25% of babies show simple deceptive behaviour. By age three, almost all children experiment with it. These are not calculated lies. They are small, everyday attempts to get what they want or avoid trouble. Understanding this phase can change how parents respond, and how children learn honesty over time.

The first signs: It starts earlier than expected

Parents often link lying with older children. But the study suggests otherwise. Some parents noticed early signs as young as eight months.These early behaviours are subtle. A baby may pretend not to hear a parent’s voice. A toddler may quietly hide a toy. Another may eat something forbidden and shake their head when asked.These actions are not planned deception in the adult sense. They are trial-and-error responses. The child learns: this action helped avoid a reaction. That learning sticks.

Why babies “lie”: It’s not about morality

It helps to ask a simple question: why would a baby even try to deceive?The answer is direct. It is about outcomes, not ethics.At this stage, children are driven by immediate needs. Food, comfort, attention, or avoiding a “no.” When a behaviour works once, the brain stores it.Researchers believe this links to early social learning. Babies begin to understand that other people have reactions they can influence. This is the beginning of what psychologists call “theory of mind,” or the ability to guess what someone else knows or feels.So a child is not thinking, “This is wrong.”They are thinking, “This works.”

How deception grows with age

The study shows a clear pattern.

At age two, actions dominate. A child may ignore instructions or deny doing something. By age three, language enters the picture. Children may exaggerate, leave out details, or invent stories like “a ghost ate the chocolate.”This shift matters. It shows growing brain development, especially in memory, language, and social awareness.

The role parents play (often without realising it)

One of the most striking findings from the EDS study is this: children’s deception is linked to what they see at home.When parents use small “social lies” like “the shop is closed” instead of saying no, children notice patterns. The study found a positive link between parental behaviour and children’s understanding of deception.Encouraging deception was rare. But even everyday interactions can shape how children think.This does not mean parents should feel guilty. It simply shows that children are sharp observers. They learn not just from what is said, but how it is said.

Should parents be worried? Not really

It is easy to feel concerned when a child lies for the first time. But experts say this behaviour is normal.Instead, calm responses work better. When a child denies eating chocolate with crumbs on their face, the goal is not to “catch” them. It is to guide them.Simple language helps. Clear boundaries help more.

A small phase with a big lesson

A baby hiding a biscuit or a toddler denying a mess may seem frustrating in the moment. But these are small signs of a growing mind.Deception in early childhood is not a flaw. It is a step. It shows curiosity, learning, and awareness of others.Handled with patience, this phase can lead to something stronger: a child who understands honesty, not just follows it.

Veteran actress Navnindra Behl, who’s best known for her role in Ishqbaaaz, passed away at the age of 76. Her untimely demise was confirmed by her son, filmmaker Kanu Behl. He shared an emotional post on his Instagram handle and mourned the late actress’ demise. Ishqbaaz co-star Nakuul Mehta has now shared an emotional note for the veteran actress.While sharing the post, Kanu wrote, “My Titan. My faith. Love. Guide. Mentor. My heart. Go well, mumma. Until you birth me again.” Nakuul Mehta, who shared the screen with Navnindra, took to his Instagram handle and shared a series of pictures from the sets of Ishqbaaz.

The post read, “The beauty of long-running television shows is that they sometimes give you the opportunity to spend time with people who may have existed in worlds very different from yours until then… and then, almost magically, they end up shaping a significant part of who you were during those years. And long after the experience ends, some of what they stood for continues to find a home within you.”He further said, “We spent so many days sharing a set floor and many lunches over the three years we worked together on Ishqbaaaz. I’d often complain about the boring sabzis (read: lauki, karela) she’d bring, and she would continue to insist that we try her food. She didn’t give up. I never gave in. My earliest memory of her was filming my very first scene with her on Ishqbaaaz at around midnight in Turbhe. A solemn moment between the matriarch and her grandson. There was something about her presence that made you feel so present in every scene. She liked rehearsals. So did I. It was a match written in the stars. I say so because in television, rarely do you have the discipline and mostly the time… for multiple rehearsals.”Nakuul also shared his experience working with her and said, “She came from the rich tradition of Punjabi theatre. She wrote, directed and produced in her time, but never for once brought that heft onto set. She had more years in the business than the entire ensemble put together, but may have been the lightest co-actor to work with. Only sometimes complaining about the crazy schedules of television. Okay, often 🙂 I’d quite often drop her back home if we packed up at the same time, and those drives are some of my fondest memories of her. She’d be excited about writing back to every audience member who messaged her on Instagram (she embraced technology). She was thrilled about collaborating with Vishal Bhardwaj. She spoke so fondly of her husband and their love story, and mostly of her son, @kanubehl, and the wonderful filmmaker she believed he was.” He then said, “We kept in touch over the years, much after the show ended, and @jank_ee and I had the good fortune of celebrating her on her 75th birthday in October 2024. I doubt I ever called her Ma’am! None of us did. It was always Dadi. We will miss you, Dadi. dearmansi: She was the sweetest person ever, loved being around her and listening to her talks. shrenuparikhofficial: She did make us feel present and didn’t quite bring the age factor on set.”

Legendary screenwriter Salim Khan is expected to be discharged from Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital today following a month-long battle with a minor brain hemorrhage. After a tense month for the Khan family and the film industry, veteran screenwriter Salim Khan is set to return home, according to a Hindustan Times report. Admitted in mid-February following a brain-related medical emergency, the 90-year-old legend has shown significant recovery, and doctors at Lilavati Hospital are now clearing him for discharge.

Hospital admission and diagnosis details

According to reports, Salim Khan was admitted to Lilavati Hospital in Bandra West on February 17. He was brought to the emergency room around 8:30 AM following a brain-related issue. After the initial examination, a specialized medical team was formed to assess his condition. He was placed under the care of senior consultant Dr. Jaleel Parkar.

Doctors later confirmed that he had suffered a minor brain haemorrhage, which required careful monitoring and medical intervention. The situation raised concerns initially, given his age, but doctors maintained that his condition was manageable.

Digital subtraction angiography procedure

As part of the treatment, Salim Khan underwent a procedure known as Digital Subtraction Angiography (DSA). Doctors clarified that the procedure is not major brain surgery but an advanced imaging technique.Providing an update at the time, Dr Parkar told the media, “There was minimal brain haemorrhage. A small procedure was done this morning, and it was accomplished. He is fine and stable, but is still on a ventilator. By tomorrow, hopefully, we will take him off the ventilator. All in all, he’s doing quite well. Keeping his age in mind, the recovery time is longer,”

Family support and public attention

Salim Khan’s family members, including Salman Khan, remained by his side throughout the treatment. Several well-known personalities also visited or expressed concern about his health during this period. Recently, Akhilesh Yadav met Salman Khan and shared a picture on social media.

As the Middle East conflict enters its third week, rising tensions are pushing global oil prices higher. Crude from the Middle East has seen the sharpest spike, becoming the world’s most expensive oil as disruptions to key supply routes continue. According to a Reuters report, S&P Global Platts assessed cash Dubai crude at $153.25 per barrel for May-loading cargoes on Monday, marking an all-time high and overtaking Brent’s previous peak of $147.50 per barrel recorded in 2008. The surge has also pushed Dubai’s premium to swaps to $56.01 per barrel, even as trading slows due to the US and Israeli war on Iran.The spike in key benchmarks such as Dubai and Oman crude is significantly raising costs for Asian refiners, who rely on these grades to price millions of barrels imported into the region. In response, several refiners are either cutting operating rates or looking beyond the Middle East for alternative supplies.Oman crude futures have followed a similar trajectory, hitting a record $147.79 per barrel. Its premium to Dubai swaps rose to $50.57 per barrel.Despite these highs, market participants say the benchmarks no longer reflect broader market realities. A wide price gap has emerged between Dubai crude and Murban futures, which settled at $111.76 per barrel on Monday.However, though prices continue to soar, physical supply from the region has dropped steeply. Data from Kpler, as cited by Reuters, shows Middle East crude exports to Asia fell to 11.665 million barrels per day in March, down from nearly 19 million bpd in February and around 32% lower than March 2025 levels. The decline is linked to halted shipments through the Strait of Hormuz amid the ongoing conflict.Refining sources said the rally is being driven by reduced volumes available in the Platts Market on Close process after three crude grades that pass through the strait were removed.“It is unnatural and unfair pricing because of thin trading,” one source said, arguing that the remaining grades, Oman and Murban, do not adequately represent the benchmark used for pricing Middle Eastern and some Russian crude.Another refining source said that trading of May-loading Middle East crude has effectively stalled, describing the Dubai and Oman benchmarks as broken.S&P Global Energy defended its pricing mechanism, stating, “Platts Dubai continues to reflect the value of Middle Eastern sour crude trading in the spot market,” and added that trading activity in the Platts window has been strong this month, with multiple cargo deliveries.However, traders noted that TotalEnergies has emerged as the sole active buyer in the Platts window, purchasing 24 cargoes of Oman and Murban crude, equivalent to 12 million barrels, so far this month. With Middle Eastern supply tightening, Asian refiners are increasingly turning to other regions. Spot premiums for crude from the Americas and Africa have risen as buyers compete for limited cargoes.Traders said Brazilian crude premiums have surged to between $12 and $15 per barrel over ICE Brent, while April-loading West African crude has seen premiums rise by about $1 per barrel compared to a month ago, with most available cargoes already sold.

NEW DELHI: Tamil Nadu deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Monday said the Dravidian ideology practised by his party, the DMK, and the principles of Islam are “fundamentally the same”, as both teach “equality, love, and generosity”.“The religion that teaches equality, love, and generosity is our Islam. The principles of Dravidian ideology and the principles of Islam are fundamentally the same,” news agency ANI quoted him as saying. Stalin junior, who aslo happens to be the son of chief minister MK Stalin, said no “conspiracies” can break the relationship between the urling DMK and the Muslim coummunity.“As long as brotherhood and unity exist, no matter how many attempts or conspiracies take place, no one will be able to break the relationship between the DMK and the Muslim community,” said Stalin, who is DMK’s heir apparent.Addressing a DMK Minorities Welfare Rights Wing Iftar function in the poll-bound state, Stalin highlighted the works chief minister MK Stalin has done, including the laying of a foundation stone to build the Tamil Nadu Haj House at a cost of Rs 39 crore. He also targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is grinding hard to make inroads in Tamil Nadu, saying the national party “spreads hatred against minorities every day” which helps it to grow.“A BJP chief minister himself released a video targeting Muslims. I don’t need to explain to you about the BJP and others. The Union BJP government spreads hatred against minorities every day. It is through this hatred campaign that the BJP is growing,” Stalin said in a veiled attack on Assam chief minister Himanta Sarma. He further said: “No matter how much the BJP tries or how much trouble they create, the DMK will always stand firmly with you as your protector”.

Videos circulating widely on social media show large fires and plumes of smoke rising into the sky following Pakistani strikes on Afghan Taliban installations in Kabul and Nangarhar Province late Monday night. The strikes were part of Operation Ghazab lil-Haq, launched by Pakistan on February 26 after what Islamabad described as “unprovoked firing” by Afghan Taliban forces across the border, according to Dawn.One of the videos shows a massive plume of fire, whereas other videos show the massive fire engulfing the surrounding areas where the strikes by Pakistani forces were carried out.Local media outlet TOLO News posted videos of strike hit hospital buildings up in flames, which according to Afghan agencies killed over 400 people and injured over 250, and rescue teams scrambled through debris.“Following airstrikes by Pakistan’s military regime on a specialist addiction treatment hospital in Kabul, more than a hundred people have been martyred and injured,” it said in the post. Security sources cited by the Dawn, said Pakistani forces targeted Taliban military infrastructure at two locations in Kabul, destroying technical support facilities and ammunition storage sites. In Nangarhar, four separate Taliban military installations were struck, along with nearby logistics, ammunition depots and technical infrastructure. Sources said the strikes also destroyed a drone assembly workshop, a “headquarters from where drones were sent” and weapons stockpiles in both Kabul and Nangarhar. According to them, the workshops assembled drones using components manufactured in India and Israel.Updates shared around midnight said the Pakistan Air Force continued operations in the two Afghan locations, with six targets reported to have been hit. Security officials said there were also reports that several militants were killed during the strikes.Earlier, Pakistani armed forces carried out operations in the Kurram District sector, targeting hideouts of the Afghan Taliban and Fitna al-Khawarij, a term used by Islamabad for Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).“During these operations, several khawarij were killed while the rest managed to escape,” a security source told the Pakistani daily.Security sources also said Pakistani forces destroyed Afghan Taliban posts across the border in Bajaur District using guided missiles.Separately, overnight strikes were conducted earlier in Kandahar, where what officials described as technical support infrastructure and an equipment storage facility were destroyed.Pakistan’s information minister Attaullah Tarar confirmed the military action, adding that a tunnel allegedly used by militants had also been destroyed.Later, Tarar said four civilians were killed and a child injured after Afghan Taliban forces “deliberately targeted the civilian population through artillery/mortar fire from across the border” in Bajaur district.Pakistan’s information ministry also rejected claims by an Afghan Taliban spokesperson that a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul had been targeted.“The claim of this discredited so-called spokesperson of the Taliban regime is another misreporting of facts aimed at misleading public opinion,” the ministry said in a statement on X.It added: “On the night of March 16, Pakistan precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure, including technical equipment storage and ammunition storage of Afghan Taliban and Fitna al Khawarij in Kabul and Nangarhar that were being used against innocent Pakistani civilians. Post-strike detonation of stored ammunition being used by the master terror proxy also fully contradicts the fake claim.”Pakistan’s foreign office also dismissed reports suggesting Islamabad had rejected mediation efforts by China to ease tensions with Afghanistan. Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said speculation in this regard was “unwarranted”.

US President Donald Trump on Monday cast doubt on the survival of Iran’s newly appointed Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, citing reports about his condition. While some suggest that he may have lost a leg in an air strike others say that he could be disfigured but “no one” has publicly confirmed the leader is healthy or even seen him alive, Trump said. “We don’t know … if he’s dead or not.”“Nobody’s saying he’s 100% healthy,” Trump said. “I will say this, nobody’s seen him, which is unusual,” he told reporters at the White House. “A lot of people are saying that he’s badly disfigured. They’re saying that he lost his leg … and he’s been hurt very badly. Other people are saying he’s dead.”Mojtaba Khamenei was named as his father Ali Khamenei’s successor after the elder leader was killed in the initial stages of the conflict. This is not the first time Trump has cast doubt on the Iranian leader’s situation. In an earlier interview with NBC News, he said that he had seen no clear proof that the 56‑year‑old is still alive, pointing out that Khamenei’s first message since taking power was a written statement rather than a public appearance.Shortly after the statement, multiple media circulated suggesting that Mojtaba was in a coma following critical injuries from an airstrike. According to some accounts, the son of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was said to have lost a leg and suffered severe abdominal or liver damage in the attack. US defence secretary Pete Hegseth had also previously indicated that the new leader had been wounded and has yet to appear publicly. Since his appointment earlier this month, Mojtaba Khamenei has remained out of the public eye, fueling speculation in Iran and abroad about his health and location. According to a report by The New York Times citing Iranian officials, he may have been injured during the initial attacks, including possible leg wounds. Meanwhile, Iranian state television described him as a “wounded veteran” of the ongoing conflict but offered no further details. Officials have dismissed claims that the cleric is incapacitated. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said there was “no problem” with the new supreme leader.

GURGAON: A 38-year-old man, who told his wife he was taking their two-year-old daughter downstairs to play in the park, jumped to his death from the 23rd floor of a residential tower in Joyville society in Sector 102 on Monday morning, carrying the toddler in his arms.It was around 7.30am when the father took his daughter to the terrace on the 23rd floor. Police said they received information around 8am and rushed to the spot. Both were taken to a nearby private hospital, where doctors declared them dead on arrival.The man had been living in the society for the past two years with his wife and their daughter. The family, originally from Nangloi in Delhi, ran a public school in Kirari, which teaches students up to Class V. “The wife was in the kitchen preparing breakfast when her husband told her that he was taking their daughter out to play in the park. Soon after, residents heard a loud commotion near the tower and gathered outside,” a senior officer said.Hearing the noise, the wife stepped out too. “She saw a man and a child lying on the ground, their clothes soaked in blood. She rushed downstairs with other residents, only to discover that the two were her husband and daughter,” the officer added.The man’s brother told police he had been suffering from various health problems since the Covid pandemic. According to sources, he had completely lost vision in one eye, while sight in the other had also deteriorated, leaving him deeply troubled for a long time.The couple got married in 2014. They would often leave their daughter with her grandparents when they travelled to Delhi to run their school. The family has not alleged any foul play and declined to file a complaint. The bodies were handed over to them after an autopsy.Police, however, said they are examining the sequence of events, especially why the father took the child with him before leaping from the terrace. “The circumstances appear suspicious, which is why we have initiated an investigation,” the officer said.